The Ring 2: Back in the Ring
by Nelisabetha
Summary: PG13, just to be on the safe side. 3 years later, Aiden wonders what happens to all of Samara's victims, do they move on? He tries to think of ways to find out, when Rachel has a very realistic 'vision' type thingie..
1. Aiden Wonders

Aiden sat in his room, thinking about the killer video tape and Samara's victims. It had been three years. Three years since his mother and he watched the tape. And three years since Noah died.  
  
'I wonder what happens to them.. I mean, when she.. Kills them. Where do they go?' Aiden thought. His mother found it easy enough to believe they all went to Heaven, or Hell.. Wherever they belonged. Or maybe she just didn't want to believe their souls were trapped, if they even were. That's what Aiden thought. He thought, when she killed them, their souls became trapped in the tape.  
  
"If only there were a way of knowing.. " He thought aloud.  
  
"Knowing what?" Came Rachel Keller's voice from behind him. Aiden turned to find his mother standing in the doorframe, drying a dish. "Knowing what?" She repeated.  
  
"What grade I got on my Math test." Aiden replied.  
  
"Aiden, I know when there's something serious on your mind." Rachel bit her lower lip. "You aren't thinking about the.. Tape again, are you?"  
  
Her son nodded. Rachel stepped into the room and set the dish and rag on his nightstand. "Aiden, it's over. You don't have to worry about it any longer."  
  
Aiden jumped up, infuriated. How could she say it was over? "How can you say that?" He was taking an awful tone with his mother, but he couldn't control his temper.  
  
"Aiden, don't you take that tone with me!" Rachel gave him a look, but he wouldn't stand down.  
  
"How can you say it's over?" He repeated. "It will never be over. She never sleeps, you know that. We practically work for her, besides!"  
  
Rachel sighed. "I'm sorry, Aiden. I know it's never over.. But.. What do you mean by that? Work for her?"  
  
The boy couldn't see how his mother didn't understand. "We had to show the tape to someone else. I would have died otherwise. And you, without meaning to do any harm, showed it to Noah.. He showed it to no one else, that's why he died."  
  
"I know that, Aiden. But what do you mean?"  
  
"Don't you see? We showed the tape to the neighbors, but we just couldn't let them die.. They did nothing to deserve it. So we helped them. And we helped the people they showed the tape to. And we'll keep doing it until the day we die. It'll never stop. People's lives lie in our hands, and ours alone."  
  
"Aiden.. "  
  
"What, Rachel? What?"  
  
Rachel sighed again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.. " He'd finally started calling her 'mother' or 'mom' 3 years ago, after those terrible events. She didn't want him falling back into the habit of calling her by her first name. He usually only did so when he was very frustrated, or angry.  
  
Aiden shook his head, took a few deep breathes, and sat back down next to his mom. "For what?"  
  
"If I just didn't get involved, if I didn't just HAVE to investigate the killer tape, and Katie's death.. None of this would be lying upon your shoulders." It had been a while since either of them spoke of Katie, or her death. Aiden felt bad for being so rude to his mom. If it weren't for her, neither of them would be around to help anyone else who might see the tape. It wouldn't matter if they destroyed every copy in the world, Samara would just make more. And if neither of them were there, more people would die.  
  
"What's done is done. That was then, and this is now. There's nothing more we can do for Katie, or Noah.. Or anyone else from then.. We can only help the people that might watch the tape now. It's fate." He said simply, shrugging as if it were no longer a great deal.  
  
"You know I don't believe in Fate." Rachel smiled weakly.  
  
"Yeah, I know you don't like someone making choices for you. Deciding your future." Aiden too smiled, also weakly.  
  
"Is there something else on your mind? You never told me.. You said something about, if there were only a way of knowing.. " Rachel looked at her son, a frown upon her face.  
  
"Knowing.. Where they go. Where the victims, their souls, their essence.. Whatever you'd like to call it. Do they really go to Heaven or Hell? What if there's more to it than there seems?"  
  
"There's only one way to know.. And I won't let that happen." Rachel replied.  
  
Aiden nodded. He knew what his mother was saying. The only way to know, would be to watch the tape and let Samara come and kill you. But watching the tape again would do nothing for them, they had seen it, they had escaped Samara's wrath. But maybe there was another way..  
  
"Look, Aiden... We just need to try and forget about the tape. Or how it effected our lives. We just need to focus on helping anyone else who may come across it." Rachel stood up, hoping that was the end of their conversation. She picked up the dish and rag and walked back out of the room. "Now, you have homework. I suggest you start on it." And that was the last word.  
  
Aiden sighed. 'I need to know.' He thought. Aiden looked back down at the nightstand to see the time, but instead of his digital clock being there.. The killer tape had taken its place. His eyes widened slightly and he shivered. "Something isn't right." He voiced his thoughts, and looked towards the curtains. The windows were shut, yet they were blowing around as if there were a light wind. And Aiden heard a whisper.. A few whispers. He couldn't make out what they were saying, nor where they were coming from. But after a moment.. "Katie... Noah?" They were coming from.. The tape.  
  
*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*`'*  
  
Nelisabetha- Aah! Cliff-hangerishness! Or something like that. Really.. No.. Wait.. Maybe. I don't know. Sorry it's so short, I'm working on the next chapter now. Ahahahaha! Tell me what you think, and what I can do to improve this. :-P Probably won't listen to you though. Hahaha. *twitch* ToOdLeZ! 


	2. Katie's Warning

A week or so after Aiden saw the killer tape in place of his clock, he had decided he needed to take action. "Not for me. Not to quench my thirst for knowledge. For Noah. And Katie. Everyone.. " But there was only one other way besides watching the tape. He had to want it bad enough for it to work, he thought. "And I do. Not knowing is driving me mad.. " Aiden shook his head. "But what about mom?"  
  
Rachel bit down on her lower lip. Hard. She grimaced at the coppery taste of her own blood. The woman had been listening outside Aiden's door long enough to know what he was going to try to do. 'I have to keep close watch on him.. But what about when he's at school? I can't very well follow him there. What if he tries it then?' Rachel walked back into her bedroom and paced the floor, hands on her hips. 'What if he tries it now?' She stopped, horrified at the thought of Aiden jumping from his bedroom window. Or.. Or cutting his wrists until he bled to death. She smacked herself in the head. "Wake up.. Talk to him. He may not listen but.. What else can I do? Strap him to my back to make sure he's safe at all times?" Rachel was pacing again, but she stopped once again when she got the shivers. She turned towards the window to see if it was open. 'No, I closed it.' Rachel stood rooted to the spot. The curtains were blowing in a non-existent wind. 'No fans.. No air-conditioner. What's going on?'  
  
That's when she heard it. A whisper.. No, more than one.. 'I recognize those voices.' Rachel spun in circles, looking around for the source of the noise. Her eyes landed on a small black object, sitting in the middle of her bed. And she screamed, as loud as she could, until she felt she could scream no longer.  
  
That's when Aiden came running into her room. "Mom? What's wrong? Mom!?" He ran over to his mother, who looked as though she were having a seizer. He could see nothing wrong in the room.. Besides what his mother was going through. Her eyes were rolled up in the back of her head.. It was a horrible sight for Aiden. "Mom!" He screamed, but Rachel couldn't hear him. She was having a vision.. Or whatever you would like to call it. Too real to be a dream, or anything in her imagination.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Rachel was standing in a large field. It was quite calm. If you just lie back on the ground, you would probably hear the grass growing. How green it was, not a dying blade as far as Rachel could see. The trees surrounded the field like a large fence, and the sky was a light gray. It looked as though there was rain to be expected, but not a drop fell from the sky. Rachel noticed there was a small object in the center of the field.  
  
The blonde woman moved towards this object, curious as to what it may be. The closer she got, the larger and more pronounced it became. And she knew what it was. "It's a-"  
  
"Well." Came a familiar voice from behind Rachel. "Not just a well, the well." Rachel whipped around to find Katie standing there, looking more alive than she had even while she was.. Well, alive. She was wearing the outfit she had died in.. The outfit she was wearing on that fateful night Samara killed her.  
  
"Katie.. ?" Rachel questioned. Her voice was very quiet, hardly even a whisper, yet an echo came back to meet her.  
  
The girl nodded. "Hello, Rachel. I'm sorry if I frightened you, but this was the only way.. " She trailed off.  
  
"Katie.. Only way to.. To what?" Rachel was beginning to feel sick. All she wanted was to lie back and sleep.. Forever. She didn't ever want to feel what she was now. Never again.  
  
"I've come.. Well, more as you have come, to tell you.. Tell you what happens to Samara's victims. I've been keeping as close a watch I could on my family, mostly on Aiden and you. I understand he has been questioning what may happen to those Samara does get to."  
  
Rachel nodded, "Yes.. I'm afraid for him.. He might-"  
  
"Run into oncoming traffic? Slit his wrists? Jump out of his bedroom window? Yes, I know, Rachel. I know it all." Katie looked deeply saddened by it all, but there wasn't time to mourn the possible death of her close cousin.  
  
Rachel looked to the ground. She couldn't bear (Or bare? *shrug) looking at her niece any longer. "I miss you so much." Her voice cracked, she was shaking and tears were streaming down her face. "You and Noah." She brought her hands to her face and tried wiping away the tears.  
  
"Rachel, there's no time for this now." Katie's voice was filled with sorrow, and she cast her eyes toward the sky. "There's not much time at all. Rachel, our souls have became trapped in the tape. There's nothing you can do about it; nothing anyone can do. Please don't try anything stupid. Something that could have you or Aiden killed." She spoke quickly, watching as the sky became deep shades of purple and red.  
  
"Because that's not what you want, is it?" Came another familiar voice. Katie turned, and Rachel looked up. Behind Katie stood a little girl with a curtain of dark hair covering her face. The girl was looking to the ground, her voice was strong, though.  
  
"Samara." Rachel breathed.  
  
The little girl, Samara, did not respond.  
  
"Samara, please, spare Rachel and Aiden. Please, anything.. " Katie begged.  
  
'What's Katie talking about?' Rachel wondered. 'It's over for Aiden and I, she can't kill us now.'  
  
"Can't, or won't?" Samara's voice was sweet, but filled with venom. She looked up, and moved her dark hair aside, looking straight at Rachel. The blonde woman looked down as Samara moved the dark curtain from her eye. She wouldn't risk dying before she could tell Aiden what Katie had said to her. 'It's never over.' Rachel heard Samara's voice in her head.  
  
"Samara, PLEASE! Don't kill Rachel, please, no!" Katie fell to her knees and clasped her hands together, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
Samara smiled wickedly and turned towards Katie, who wasn't expecting that, not even in the least. The sky turned a darker grey, almost black, and when Rachel looked up, both girls were gone.  
  
'What, where's Katie?' Rachel wondered.  
  
'She is no more.' Rachel could feel a cold hand on her arm, and looked down to see Samara's.. A handprint burning into her skin. Rachel screamed. She wanted it to stop. "GETOUTOFMYHEAD!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Aiden jumped back as Rachel stopped moving, but not even half a second later practically jumped to her feet and took deep breathes. Aiden thought she looked kind of like someone who had just nearly drowned, and was gasping for breath. He moved back over and put an arm around his mothers shoudlers. He could see a handprint had been burned into her arm..  
  
"Mom, are you okay? Mom, what happened? What did you see?" Aiden shook his mother, who slowly turned her head towards him. Her eyes were hollow, dead, not even sorrow filled them. But Aiden's eyes were filled with worry, and he needed to know what was going on. "What happened?" He asked calmly, in a steady but strong voice.  
  
"I saw.. I saw her.. " She said quietly.  
  
"Who? Who did you see?" Aiden questioned.  
  
His mother shut her eyes and took another breath. "I saw Katie.. And then I saw Samara.. And now Katie is.. She's.. "  
  
"Mom, what are you talking about?"  
  
"She tried to warn me. Samara is going to.. She's going to kill us. But what she did to Katie.. And she said... " Rachel was still trying to grasp all that she had seen. The sick feeling had not yet left her stomache, and not it was making its way up to her throat.  
  
"Katie disapeared.. And I heard Samara.. I heard Samara's voice inside my head. 'She is no more.'" Rachel broke down in her sons arms and sobbed for what seemed like hours, before her throat tightened up and she could cry no more. "Samara is going to kill us, anyway.. " The message had gotten through to her. Samara was just waiting. "All those people we thought we helped. No, they're going to die anyway.. "  
  
"What do you mean? Why didn't she just kill us when she had the chance, then?" Aiden asked. He couldn't believe it. No, he wouldn't. He was thinking of suicide, just to see what was happening to all the souls.  
  
"Katie is nowhere now.. " Rachel went back to sobbing, her son cradeled her in his arms. 'I can't ask much more of her now. Not after what just happened.' He thought.  
  
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Nelisabetha- I'm too lazy to go over and see if I made any mistakes.. It's rounding on 2:00 AM, and I'm tired. Not going to sleep very well tonight, I'm scaring myself.. If this scares you, and I hope it does... *cough* It's nothing compared to how bad it scares me. The writer can see these things perfect in their minds, but the reader can hardly imagine it as the writer can. And you know I made mistakes, I know I made mistakes.. So.. Goodnight. 


End file.
